Category: The Conversation – Canada

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Lorne Michael Hartman, Associate Faculty, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto; York University, Canada

Consider the following scenario. You’re facing pressure to meet quarterly targets, but the numbers aren’t quite where they need to be. With a deadline looming, you “round up” a figure just slightly to make the results look better.

This kind of thinking is far more common than many realize. Research in behavioural ethics shows these subtle choices are exactly how unethical behaviour takes root in organizations.

Most people see themselves as fair, rational and ethical, yet research in behavioural ethics consistently shows we are far less objective than we assume.

Even well-intentioned people can explain away questionable actions — not because they’re immoral, but because their minds are wired to protect their moral self-image.

How we talk ourselves into bad decisions

The concept of moral disengagement describes the subtle mental moves people use to convince themselves that ethical standards don’t apply “just this once.” Rather than viewing themselves as rule-breakers, people reframe their behaviour in ways that allow them to feel moral while acting otherwise.

These rationalizations tend to take the following forms:

• “It’s just creative accounting.” This is euphemistic labelling, which reframes misconduct in more acceptable terms.
• “I did it for the team.” A form of moral justification that recasts a self-serving decision as altruistic.
• “Everyone signed off on it.” Here, individuals displace responsibility onto colleagues or superiors.
• “It’s not a big deal.” This involves distorting the consequences and minimizing impacts of choices.
• “At least we’re not as bad as the competition.” Known as advantageous comparison, this tactic makes questionable behaviour seem reasonable by contrasting it with a worse alternative.

These narratives allow people to preserve a positive self-image even when their actions contradict their values. Over time, these narratives can normalize misconduct and corrode workplace culture.

The real-world impact of moral rationalization

Unethical behaviour in organizations isn’t rare, nor is it limited to a few “bad apples.” Research indicates that harmful or dishonest actions at work result in significant financial losses for companies and society, amounting to billions of dollars each year.

While we often assume unethical behaviour is driven by personal greed, high-profile corporate scandals tell a different story. In cases like the Boeing 737 Max crashes, Siemens’ corruption scandal or Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, news coverage suggest employees were motivated by a sense of obligation, loyalty or pressure to advance company goals, not by personal gain.

What’s striking is not just the number of people who participated, but how many recognized wrongdoing and remained silent. This pattern highlights a deeper problem: ethical failures rarely result from deliberate malice.

They emerge when ordinary people talk themselves into crossing lines they would normally respect. Understanding how that happens is essential if leaders want to create workplaces where employees don’t just know the right thing to do, but actually act on it.

Why ethics training often falls flat

Many organizations assume that teaching employees the rules will naturally translate into better behaviour. However, knowledge alone doesn’t close the gap between intention and action.

Across several studies, I examined whether moral disengagement can be reduced through training and reframing. In one experiment, participants learned to spot eight common rationalizations. They became adept at identifying these cognitive traps, but their awareness didn’t translate into making more ethical choices later.

In another experiment, we tried shifting how people thought about responsibility by emphasizing individual accountability over group harmony. This framing slightly reduced moral disengagement, especially among women, but the overall impact was modest.

Across all studies, the bottom line is that moral disengagement is stubborn. Simply knowing better rarely ensures that people will act better.

Why is it so difficult to move the needle? A key reason is that our explanations for why we behave the way we do are shaped by cultural norms learned early in life. Once formed, these beliefs are surprisingly resistant to change, even in the face of evidence or explicit instruction.

Culture is what drives ethical behaviour

If ethics training alone has limited impact, what does make a difference?

Our research points to workplace culture, which strongly shapes levels of moral disengagement and the ethical choices that follow.

We found that environments that prize assertiveness, competition and material success are more likely to encourage rationalizations. By contrast, cultures that emphasize care, modesty and concern for others make moral disengagement harder.

Ethical behaviour, in other words, is less a matter of personal integrity than organizational context.

When employees face unrealistic goals, aggressive norms or leaders who silence dissent, the space for ethical reflection becomes increasingly narrow. Rationalization fills the gap, allowing people to maintain a sense of integrity even as their decisions drift further from their values.

7 ways to resist rationalization at work

Creating an ethical organization means designing systems that make reflection easier and self-justification harder. Effective strategies include:

1. Normalizing ethical dialogue. Ethical dilemmas often arise in grey areas, where there is no clear right or wrong answer. Leaders should encourage open discussions about ambiguous situations before they escalate into problems.

2. Rewarding the process, not only the result. When outcomes are all that matter, employees are more likely to cut corners or bend rules to achieve targets. By recognizing the work process, organizations reinforce the importance of integrity alongside performance.

3. Modelling moral humility. Leaders set the tone for acceptable behaviour. When they admit mistakes, they signal ethics is about vigilance, not moral perfection.

4. Building in “ethical speed bumps.” People are more likely to rationalize decisions under pressure. Interventions like checklists, second reviews or pausing to slow down can give employees the time to consider whether their actions align with ethical standards.

5. Creating psychological safety. Employees must feel confident that raising concerns or questioning decisions won’t lead to fear of reprisal or harm to their careers. Creating psychologically safe workplaces reduces the likelihood of ethical lapses.

6. Aligning incentives with values. When incentives focus only on short-term results or profit, employees are more likely to justify harmful shortcuts. Performance metrics should emphasize collaboration, accountability, feedback and conflict resolution.

7. Supporting well-being and work-life balance. Stress and burnout make people more prone to self-justification. Policies that support well-being indirectly foster ethical workplace behaviour.

These approaches reflect growing evidence that behaviour change requires more than information. It requires habit formation, cultural reinforcement and aligned systems.

Learning to be more reflective

Humans are rationalizing creatures. We edit our moral narratives to protect our sense of ourselves as good, competent and principled people. But understanding this tendency is empowering.

Leaders who recognize the psychology of moral disengagement can design workplace environments where ethical reflection is routine and the right decision is the easier one.

While we may never be able to fully eliminate rationalization, we can learn to notice it, question it and choose differently. Ethical workplace cultures are built on systems that help ordinary people do the right thing.

Lorne Michael Hartman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How good people justify bending the rules at work — and what leaders can do about it – https://theconversation.com/how-good-people-justify-bending-the-rules-at-work-and-what-leaders-can-do-about-it-270427

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Dianne Lalonde, PhD, Political Science, Western University

The words we use to describe gender-based violence (GBV), such as “victim,” “survivor” and “person with lived experience,” aren’t neutral. These labels are powerful. They can affirm dignity or reinforce stigma. They can mobilize movements or obscure systemic issues.

GBV can include sexual, physical, mental and economic abuse. Coercive control and manipulation in intimate partner relationships are an example, as is sexual assault, child marriages or technology-facilitated violence. And in Canada, GBV disproportionately impacts women and girls.

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Why Canada needs to recognize the crime of femicide — on Dec. 6 and beyond

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As GBV evolves across digital and in-person contexts, the stakes of language are especially high.

Drawing on our research and practice, we explore what these labels mean, how they are used and the impact they have on people’s lives. Our aim is to support intentional language as part of the broader work of violence prevention, collective action and addressing harm.

Two starting points help anchor this discussion. The first is that when you are in direct contact with someone who has experienced GBV, follow their lead in how they describe their own experience. The second is to recognize that different communities use terms rooted in their own histories that demand our respect, not our translation.

What ‘victim’ reveals and what it distorts

“Victim” centres the harm experienced by individuals and the impacts it has had on their lives. It first gained prominence early in the women’s rights movement, when it was deployed to evoke sympathy and action. Today, it remains central to the legal system.

Research indicates that labelling someone as a victim frames them as someone in need of saving or protection rather than being recognized as knowledgeable and capable.

The label has also been criticized for reinforcing the “perfect victim” stereotype, suggesting that only those who appear innocent or socially respectable deserve empathy or justice. This stereotype often dismisses and blames certain groups, including Black women and women with disabilities who face compounded discrimination and disbelief.

Yet some individuals embrace the label of “victim” as an honest reflection of what they endured.

As American writer Danielle Campoamor states:

“As a victim of sexual assault, I am not a happy ending. I do not exist for others to feel better about a systemic problem.”

‘Survivor’ — the resilience story

“Survivor” foregrounds empowerment and resilience. People labelled as survivors are generally perceived more positively than people labelled as victims.

For men who have experienced sexual violence, “survivor” can offer a way to name harm in a context where acknowledging victimization is socially discouraged.

However, the label can shift attention away from aggressors and toward expectations that individuals demonstrate strength or recovery. Healing is not a linear process, and the label of “survivor” can create pressure that a person or community simply “get over it.” These expectations stigmatize people whose healing does not align with socially accepted ideas of recovery or “good” behaviour.

A focus on personal resilience can also reflect society’s discomfort with GBV by celebrating endurance rather than confronting the systems that create harm.

“Victim-survivor” has also been proposed as an umbrella term that aims to disrupt the victim/survivor binary, though it can reproduce some of the same pressures attached to both.

Does person-first language respect or obscure?

Person-first language, such as “individual who experienced GBV,” emerged from disability activism. It leads with the person rather than the label, offering an alternative to identity-first terms like “victim” or “survivor.”

Person-first language has been found to affirm dignity and emphasize that violence is only one part of a person’s story. It highlights individuality and complexity, reflecting the wide range of experiences within this group.

But person-first language can unintentionally portray the person’s identity as inherently negative or shameful. It can also individualize violence, obscuring the broader social and political structures that enable it.

Ultimately, the value of person-first language depends on how it is applied and whether it recognizes both personal experience and systemic accountability.

Navigating labels in real-life contexts

Every label captures something true while also missing something else.

The goal is not perfection or consistency; it is intention. Ask: What purpose does this label serve? How is it shaping assumptions about harm and agency? How might you capture what the label misses? Are you imposing one term universally or making space for the multiplicity of language people actually use? If you are speaking to or about an individual, what term do they prefer?

While we recognize that institutional settings often limit the language used, these questions remain useful because they help guide how those terms are applied, offering space to challenge harmful assumptions even when the terminology itself cannot change.

No single label can fully and accurately summarize experiences of violence. Labels often overlap, shift with context and evolve over time.

What matters most is using language that reflects care and respect. Our words should neither confine people to their experiences of violence nor erase the realities of that harm. Intentional language is one way we move closer to a world where GBV is actively named and dismantled.

Dianne Lalonde is affiliated with the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Sue O’Neill received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Sue O’Neill is on the board of directors for Bryony House, a crisis GBV shelter in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

– ref. What’s in a label? Rethinking how we talk about gender-based violence – https://theconversation.com/whats-in-a-label-rethinking-how-we-talk-about-gender-based-violence-270650

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Michelle Stack, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia

Canadian students are struggling. Many cannot afford housing, are struggling with mental health crises and increasing numbers don’t have enough money for food.

At the same time, universities are spending time and money chasing media-driven rankings that don’t offer tools for responding to these challenges or improve the quality of education or research in Canada.

But there’s a proven alternative that generates trillions in the global economy but remains largely invisible in higher education: co-operatives.

Canada’s 2025 budget mentions co-operative housing as a way to deal with the housing crisis, but co-ops go beyond housing. They could provide a place for students to practise democratic governance, to have a sense of community, to find dignified work and affordable food and housing — and to make research more accessible.

Co-operatives come in different forms, but they all sign on to key principles, many of which are similar to those espoused by educational institutions.

These include democratic member control, economic participation by members, autonomy and independence, voluntary and open membership, education and training and concern for the community.

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Housing co-ops could solve Canada’s housing affordability crisis

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Thriving Canadian co-operatives

As university professors, we frequently hear from students who struggle to make ends meet. For many, the first time they learn about co-operatives is in our classes, yet Canada developed a robust system of co-operatives during other periods of hardship, including the Great Depression. Many of these co-ops continue to thrive today.

Some co-ops are huge and others are small. In 2023, it was estimated that the most profitable 300 co-operatives globally made a combined total of USD $2.79 trillion.

Vancity is an example of a financial co-op. It started in 1946 to provide loans for working-class people in the east side of Vancouver. Today, its total assets are $36 billion. Co-operatives in Canada hold $50.5 billion in assets and employ more than 100,000 people.

Co-op innovators are often people who have been excluded or marginalized from systems that measure an individual’s economic wealth with success and leave out their contributions to society and sustainability. For example,
In 2015, Solid State Communities Industries was founded. It’s well known for its success in building a solidarity economy in Surrey, B.C., and is led by racialized communities including students.

Mondragon co-operative

The co-operative Mondragon was founded in the 1950s in the town of the same name in the Basque region of Spain. It started by selling parrafin heaters and expanded to create a range of goods and services providing financial, education and health services, and has inspired many co-operative ventures, including in Winnipeg.

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The Mondragon model: how a Basque cooperative defied Spain’s economic crisis

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Today, Mondragon employs more than 70,000 people and comprises 92 autonomous co-operatives, including a university with approximately 5,000 students who learn and have opportunities to practise democratic governance throughout their education. Students also have employment opportunities at a Mondragon co-operative.

Mondragon was key to the region during Spain’s recession and was able, through co-operation, to minimize harm caused by lost housing, jobs and cuts to social services. Research and innovation is central to the strength of Mondragon.

Co-operatives come in different forms

An often overlooked but important part of the co-operative movement is Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs).

One of the authors of this story, Caroline Shenaz Hossein, chronicles how these work in her book The Banker Ladies: Vanguards of Solidarity Economics and Community-Based Banks. In a ROSCA, a group of people contribute a set amount to a common fund at regular intervals, and each member takes turns receiving the total amount collected.

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Banking co-ops run by Black women have a longtime legacy of helping people

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ROSCAs foster connection, community, trust, mutual support and financial inclusion. ROSCAS show that co-operative principles can thrive in formal organizations and everyday community life, including on university campuses.

Democratic decision-making

Co-operatives are not utopias — they are, after all, run by humans — but they do provide a structure for democratic decision-making, fairness and security. None of us is an island unto ourselves.

We need each other to ensure we all have the necessities of life — and the co-operative structures — to grapple with the existential threats we all face including climate change, the rise of disinformation and authoritarianism.

Co-operatives are a proven model for creating connection and providing affordable housing. They can also provide a means to make knowledge more freely available and to authenticate sources.

Canadian universities could choose to move away from competing over rankings to building a collaborative educational ecosystem that strengthens Canada’s ability to create and share knowledge.

As living co-operative labs, universities could connect economic capacity and democratic governance with well-being. That means providing all students opportunities to learn about co-ops and creating government and university policies that support the development of co-operatives on campuses.

The mention of co-ops in the 2025 budget is a start — but we need to do more to connect co-operatives to improving education, access to research and well-being across university campuses.

Caroline Shenaz Hossein receives funding from the Canada Research Chair program.

Michelle Stack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Co-operatives empower people — and students need to know about them – https://theconversation.com/co-operatives-empower-people-and-students-need-to-know-about-them-269345

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Peter Adesina, Postdoctoral Fellow in Geotechnical Engineering, University of Toronto

You trust the road beneath your tires. But what if that trust is misplaced? Sinkholes are increasingly turning ordinary streets into danger zones. And the cost of ignoring them is skyrocketing.

Each year, sinkholes swallow roads, homes and businesses around the world, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Kenya, South Africa and the United States.

They disrupt daily life, contaminate water supplies and cause significant damage to buildings and structures — often with devastating economic impact in economically disadvantaged regions. Repairs can cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. With government budgets already stretched thin, it is critically important to prevent rather than fix sinkholes.

What causes sinkholes?

Sinkholes are sometimes mistaken for potholes, but they are far more dangerous.

Potholes are surface nuisances that form on the surface due to wear and tear and freeze-thaw cycles. Sinkholes, meanwhile, start deep underground. They form when water dissolves rocks like limestone and gypsum or when underground soils are eroded by water, creating hidden cavities.

Leaks from damaged pipes or concentrated rainwater runoff can trigger this process, as seen recently in downtown Toronto.

These cavities grow silently until the surface collapses, sometimes swallowing entire streets. Human activities like construction and mining, and natural events such as earthquakes, can accelerate their formation.

Loose, sandy soils and fast-moving water make the ground even more vulnerable. When collapse happens, the results can be catastrophic.

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What is a sinkhole? A geotechnical engineer explains

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Climate change and aging infrastructure

Extreme weather events — heavy rains, droughts and freeze-thaw cycles — put stress on underground pipes, making them susceptible to damage that releases water into the ground.

Climate change worsens this by lowering water tables during droughts, causing cracks in soils and weakening binding strength, making the ground weaker and more likely to collapse.

Aging underground infrastructure compounds the problem: old pipes fail more easily releasing water into the ground. Both climate change and aging infrastructure can explain why sinkholes are appearing more frequently around the world.

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Read more:
From earthquakes to wildfires, Canada is woefully ill-prepared for disasters

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Can we predict sinkholes?

To build resilience against sinkholes forming in the ground, it’s imperative to be able to predict sinkholes. A comprehensive understanding of soil properties in locations of importance is required to assess the potential for sinkhole formation and develop predictive models and early warning systems.

Surveys and geological inspections have been used to map the risk of sinkhole formation in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, where sinkholes are prevalent.

Technologies like satellite-based remote sensing and subsurface-deformation sensing techniques, like distributed fibre optic sensing, can be used to identify existing underground cavities and decipher areas of low density where sinkholes could occur in the future.

Tools used to monitor water table level can also be useful to predict future sinkholes. Damage detection sensors installed in underground water infrastructure can provide early warnings before flows from water mains result in sinkholes.

Preventing sinkholes before they happen

Cities can act now to take steps to prevent sinkholes before they happen. Rainwater runoff should be redirected into existing natural water channels to avoid pooling in high-risk areas.

Loose soils can be compacted to make them more stable and, in large projects where a sinkhole could have huge economic implications, replacing weak material with stronger fill may be necessary.

Engineers can also reinforce soils with geosynthetics and seal underground drainage channels with grout or concrete to prevent erosion and sinkhole formation. These measures cost far less than repairing catastrophic damage.

A call to action

The cost of sinkholes to economic activities and property are enormous.

Sinkholes are not just costly inconveniences, they are growing threat to commercial activities, livelihood and property. With climate change, sinkholes are becoming more frequent and will worsen with huge implications for now and in the future.

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Sinkholes: when the ground fights back after centuries of exploitation

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Research is needed to understand the impact of extreme weather events on accelerated sinkhole formation so we can build sinkhole-resilient roads and infrastructure and avoid disasters that will happen if we fail to act.

Governments need to invest in the development of predictive tools and sinkhole prevention strategies by providing research funding and support for scaleable technologies emanating from research on sinkholes. Supporting preventive measures will help minimize overall costs since prevention is a lot cheaper than repairs.

Peter Adesina does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The rise of sinkholes: How to spot the risks before disaster strikes – https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-sinkholes-how-to-spot-the-risks-before-disaster-strikes-271799

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Justina C. Ray, Adjunct professor, Institute of Forestry and Conservation and Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Toronto

Over the summer, the Canadian government announced that it’s setting up a Major Projects Office to identify and fast-track projects deemed to be in the national interest. The projects under consideration are spread across Canada and focus on mining, power generation and port expansions.

But each update to the list throws a spotlight on a persistent gap in Canada’s planning processes. The federal government has signalled it wants to see these projects move quickly — but without a clear way to help ensure they proceed without sacrificing the climate resilience, biodiversity or community trust that Canadians also value.

For example, the government has signalled interest in expanding the Port of Churchill, Man., with new shipping, road, rail and energy infrastructure to support expanded Atlantic access for Prairie industries.

These facilities would introduce industrial activity into Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems that have seen little prior disturbance and are already stressed by rapid climate change. The siting and design choices will be critical — raising questions about how early ecological risks are being weighed.

What Canada needs alongside its list of major projects is a principled, transparent sequence of steps that governs how those projects are planned and assessed.

Without such a strategy, the focus centres on pushing the project through. And planners and policymakers fail to consider those early, fundamental questions about ecological risk, or whether the location and design make sense in the first place.

Adopting a well-established mitigation hierarchy, as outlined in our recent report, can help Canada avoid the tangled and dysfunctional outcomes we see again and again in current planning and assessment processes.

In this context, mitigation refers to the full set of tools available to deal with environmental impacts, applied in a clear sequence or hierarchy: first avoiding impacts where possible, then minimizing those that remain, then repairing damage on site, and only as a last resort compensating for residual losses elsewhere.

Step 1: Avoid harm with early-stage planning

Too often planners focus only on reducing impacts after basic design decisions are made. This leaves decision-makers boxed into weaker options than if they had first asked what could be avoided — and it can be far costlier as late-stage fixes mean redesigns, deeper ecological damage and heightened conflict.

Effective planning requires backing up and taking in the big picture. What comes into view is a sweep of globally important, largely intact ecosystems — places that anchor our climate, support communities and sustain wildlife and their movements.

That means the first step in any sensible hierarchy is to steer development away from places like sensitive peatlands, areas important for biodiversity, cultural keystone places and headwaters that sustain vital watersheds.

Early-stage planning enables the most important questions to be asked: Is the proposed option the best means of meeting the need, or do lower-cost or less damaging alternatives exist? Are projected ecological, climate and community impacts supported by evidence of commensurate economic and social outcomes?

Answering these questions well depends on strong baseline information about ecosystems and communities — something too often missing at the outset, causing delays while data is gathered.

Governments can begin closing this gap by strengthening the evidence base needed to inform projects before they advance. This includes support for sustained regional ecological monitoring, Indigenous and community knowledge programs and fuller use of strategic and regional impact assessments. All of these measures can identify cumulative effects and landscape-level priorities and provide shared information for planning across entire regions.

Delivering on the Liberal commitment to “map Canada’s carbon and biodiversity-rich ecological landscapes … to enable a more holistic ecosystem approach to conservation, carbon accounting, and project development” would substantially advance and improve early-stage planning. Integrating existing data held by public agencies, private proponents and consultants would further clarify environmental strengths and vulnerabilities.

Step 2: Minimize harm that cannot be avoided

Only after fully considering ways to avoid impacts should the focus shift to minimizing unavoidable damage. This is where design and operational choices matter: adjusting scale, routing, timing and methods to reduce a project’s footprint and its effects.

In ecologically intact regions — places where human pressures have not yet reached levels that compromise core ecological functions — minimization also means confronting growth-inducing impacts head-on by limiting new access, managing roads and corridors and regulating the pace and scale of development to prevent cascading cumulative effects.

Done properly, minimization protects ecological function and reduces long-term environmental, social, and financial liabilities for proponents.

Step 3: Remediate to make impacts temporary

Once all feasible steps for minimization have been taken, it becomes appropriate to move on to onsite remediation — rendering unavoidable impacts temporary through progressive reclamation, revegetation and decommissioning.

Prioritizing remediation in already stressed landscapes reduces cumulative effects, restores ecological function and builds trust by demonstrating recovery during the life of a project, not decades later.

Step 4: Offsetting is the last tool, not the first

The final step in the mitigation hierarchy is offsetting — the idea of restoring or protecting habitat elsewhere to compensate for what is lost to development. In theory, this promises no net loss, or even a net gain.

In reality, it’s the riskiest and least reliable form of mitigation, which is why it must be treated as a last resort. When offsetting is used in isolation, long after a project’s design is locked in, it becomes a poor substitute for the harder, but more valuable, work of avoiding and minimizing impacts at the outset.

As we stress in our report, that kind of sequencing failure matters. Once decisions are made and footprints fixed, ecological losses can no longer be undone, and offsets are expected to carry a burden they cannot realistically bear.

Offsetting should therefore function as a backstop — not a shortcut. Yet, it is frequently looked to as if it were the first tool in the box rather than the last.

A unified federal policy framework

Deploying the mitigation hierarchy is a technically simple approach to project planning, and it can make a substantial difference in getting projects built without unnecessary delays.

It requires a planning mindset open to alternatives and a willingness to invest early in understanding ecosystems and community needs. The hierarchy also aligns with Indigenous perspectives that view natural systems as interconnected, offering pathways for more meaningful engagement.

There is nothing new about this approach. The mitigation hierarchy has guided major-project planning and financing in other countries for decades and appears — albeit inconsistently — across several federal policies. But in this moment of renewed ambition for “nation-building” projects, Canada has an opportunity to bring coherence and discipline to the management of environmental and social impacts.

This is why we are calling for a unified federal policy framework, so that the mitigation hierarchy is applied consistently across federally supported projects. A clear hierarchy — applied early, consistently and transparently — would make decisions stronger, projects more credible and our commitments to biodiversity, climate, and Indigenous rights more than words on paper.

Justina C. Ray is President and Senior Scientist of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada and Adjunct Professor at both University of Toronto and Trent University. Funding sources to WCS Canada can be viewed through annual reports, available at https://www.wcscanada.org/About-Us/Annual-Reports.aspx.

Dave Poulton’s work on this project was in part supported by funding from the Policy Dialogue program of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.

– ref. Fast-tracking without foresight: Canada’s risky approach to major projects – https://theconversation.com/fast-tracking-without-foresight-canadas-risky-approach-to-major-projects-271385

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Francis Duah, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Toronto Metropolitan University

Holidays bring celebration, rest and, for many families, long stretches of indoor time. For some, this means table top games quickly reappear on kitchen tables. Games provide opportunities for learning mathematics actively.

These moments of playful learning raise a broader question: how can we support student’s mathematical learning at home without turning the holidays into formal lessons?

One answer comes from a simple but surprisingly powerful classroom learning tool: Tarsia jigsaw puzzles. These are puzzles created with free Tarsia software, from Hermitech Laboratory. The software enables people to create, print out and save customized jigsaws, domino activities and different rectangular card-sorting activities.

For the mathematics classroom, the whole sheet of a Tarsia puzzle printed on paper is typically laminated (for repeated use) before being cut into pieces.

Social and active learning that values mistakes

Canadian mathematician Anthony Bonato advises: “No matter what method is used to teach math, make it fun.” Most students would agree; joy is often missing from their experience.

As a mathematics education researcher, I add that regardless of the method used to teach mathematics, the learning should be active and social, and value mistakes as opportunities for learning. These are conditions under which learners feel safe to try, fail and try again.

Tarsia puzzles, which have been around for more than a decade and have found use in K-12 classrooms, accomplish all of this with almost no explanation for students. However, their use in university calculus classrooms appears to be rare.

My research has focused on why using Tarsia puzzles work to teach math, and their impact in the undergraduate classroom.

Matching geometric tiles

The Tarsia software allows teachers to embed mathematical relationships — fractions, functions, graphs, algebraic expressions — into geometric tiles such as triangles, rectangles or rhombus.

Learners must match the tiles so that the edges align, eventually forming a complete single shape.

The Tarsia software presents users with a variety of puzzle types to choose from.

Teachers in elementary and secondary schools use Tarsia puzzles to strengthen number sense and deepen understanding of functions, graphs and algebraic relationships. University instructors can use them to enliven topics such as limits, derivatives and integration — areas where students often feel intimidated.

Mathematical ‘prompts’

Each tile carries a mathematical “prompt” — for example, an appropriate Tarsia puzzle for elementary school learners might involve pieces marked with fractions, decimals and percentages, to help students understand equivalents like ¼ = 25 per cent.

For more advanced learning, puzzle pieces might show two equivalent fractions, a logarithmic expression and its simplified form or a function paired with its graph.

In both cases, learners assemble the puzzle by identifying which pieces belong together. When all tiles are matched correctly, a single full shape emerges.

Because Tarsia puzzles emphasize recognition and relationships rather than lengthy calculations, learners think about how ideas connect. They compare expressions, notice graphical features and reason out equivalence. In many ways, the activity mimics authentic mathematical thinking.

Tarsia puzzles require little supervision, and most of students’ learning happens in the conversations around the table — not in written solutions.

Grades 11 and 12 math students might use a Tarsia puzzle on logarithms — part of learning about exponents or “the power to which a base must be raised to yield a given number.”

Why active learning matters

Decades of research show that students learn mathematics best when they talk through problems, test ideas and make mistakes in low-pressure settings. Studies confirm that active learning improves understanding, reduces failure rates and builds confidence across STEM subjects.

Yet many mathematics classrooms still operate as one-way lectures, where students quietly copy procedures and hope to follow along.

Tarsia puzzles reverse this pattern. They create structured, collaborative problem-solving that feels more like play than assessment. A student who dreads formal proofs may still be eager to match a derivative with its graph. Another who dislikes fractions may feel less pressure when an incorrect guess simply means trying another tile.

A challenging puzzle might combine square and triangular pieces into a 10-sided figure, helping to teach limits, sequences, series and partial derivatives in multivariable calculus.

Recent study

At Toronto Metropolitan University’s active learning classroom, colleagues and I explored how Tarsia puzzles help first-year students learn calculus, relying on structured reflection and student feedback to examine our own teaching practices.

Several themes consistently emerged from the analysis of our reflective notes about students using Tarsia puzzles:

1. Less fear: Students who were usually anxious about being wrong participated more freely. Mistakes became part of the puzzle-solving process rather than personal shortcomings.

2. More talk: Learners debated ideas, explained reasoning and corrected each other — behaviours rarely observed in traditional tutorials.

3. Better engagement: Students worked longer and with greater focus compared with worksheet-based tasks. Some who typically packed up early stayed to complete the puzzle.

Why parents and tutors should care

Mathematics is often portrayed as solitary work, yet mathematicians collaborate constantly — arguing, checking, revising and proposing alternatives. Students benefit from similar interactions.

At home or in small tutoring groups, a Tarsia puzzle offers a low-stakes entry into mathematical reasoning. Learners who are reluctant to speak up in class may confidently identify mismatched edges or question whether two expressions are equivalent. Misconceptions are revealed naturally through the puzzle, allowing gentle correction without embarrassment.

To try Tarsia puzzles, parents and tutors of young students could try examples suitable for upper elementary and junior high school students.

A call to developers

The Tarsia software is useful but dated. Currently, it operates on a Windows operating system.

A modern web-based version — with collaboration tools, curriculum-aligned templates, and built-in accessibility — would significantly expand its adoption. Educational technology developers looking for impactful, low-cost tools could find enormous potential here.

Mathematics becomes easier when it invites curiosity. Tarsia puzzles, modest in design but powerful in effect, encourage learners to talk, think and take intellectual risks. They help parents, tutors and instructors see students’ reasoning in real time, not merely their final answers.

Most importantly, they restore an often-forgotten truth: mathematics can be playful — and learning happens in conversation.

Francis Duah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Jigsaw puzzles help make mathematics learning more active and fun – https://theconversation.com/jigsaw-puzzles-help-make-mathematics-learning-more-active-and-fun-270857

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Matthew Robert Anderson, Adjunct professor, Theological Studies, Concordia University

It would be easy to conclude that Advent calendars — usually with 25 compartments that reveal a treat, image or scripture, used to count down the days from Dec. 1 to Christmas Eve — represent just another way Christmas is ruined by commercialization. They’ve strayed far from their beginnings as devotional aids for 19th-century German Lutheran families.

Far from only featuring little numbered flaps to open on each December day, these calendars are now hot-ticket items. They highlight everything from beer to beard oil, and Lego to luxury silk. But have they completely lost their way?

As I pointed out recently on CBC’s The Cost of Living, I don’t believe so.

From devotional tool to consumerist gift

The first commercially printed Advent calendars, created by German publisher Gerhard Lang at the dawn of the 1900s, had paper windows that tore away to reveal Bible verses and art depicting the Nativity, the story of the birth of Jesus arising from the gospels of Luke (2:1-20) and Matthew (2:1-12).

By the mid-20th century, Advent calendars had spread to England and North America. Some versions began to include toys or chocolates and to downplay Christian themes.

Now, a full century after those first printed versions, Advent calendars have evolved into a dizzying array of “must-have” seasonal gifts that, at the top end, can include caviar, cocktails and even cut diamonds. In response, some emphasize homemade, reusable Advent calendars, while villages and neighbourhoods experiment with becoming “living” Advent calendars — local tourist draws — unveiling volunteer window displays each successive day of December.

Yet no matter how non-religious they may appear, as a scholar studying the origins of Christianity, I see ancient meanings of Advent still reflected in two characteristics of today’s calendars: a stoking of expectation and a purpose-filled sense of time.

The power of stoking expectations

Anticipation is what drives the appeal of every Advent calendar. The child’s or adult’s question — “What’s behind the next window?” — echoes the original Latin term adventus, meaning coming or arrival. To the query: “What is the world so eagerly awaiting in the season of Advent?” the church’s answer has historically been: the coming of Christ.

But it’s complicated. What even many Christians may not realize is that the coming of Christ — which the season of Advent was originally designed to mark — is the Second Coming, known as the “Parousia.”

Anticipation of this dates to the very beginning, with Paul and the first followers. The oldest complete Christian writing, 1 Thessalonians, buzzes with a kind of Advent expectation. It agonizes over Christ’s delayed return to end the march of time, abolish death and establish a new, justice-and-peace-filled reign of God over the Earth.

It’s not exactly children’s calendar material. For one thing, this Jesus was expected not as a meek and mild baby, but by at least some as a vengeful “end times” judge (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

In churches that still mark Advent, the readings of the first two Sundays are given over to a sense of “end times,” and “ultimate meaning” with themes of watchfulness and preparation.

Counting down to the final Window

The other ancient characteristic of even the most secular calendar is its focus on purpose-filled time and a “big day.” There would be no Advent calendar without the largest box or window, the one representing Christmas and holding the best Lego piece, chocolate, wine or picture.

When Advent first began to be marked in fourth-century Roman Gaul (modern-day France), it was meant to be a penitential season of preparation like Lent, culminating in baptism on the day of Epiphany. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great shortened the season and focused it more tightly on Christmas.

Every Advent calendar, even those made with simple chalk marks in 19th-century Germany, starts with a “now,” builds energy and anticipation through a series of “not yet” days, and climaxes with a “finally” — a long-awaited Christmas Day conclusion. From the simplest hand-drawn chart to the Buy Canadian Okanagan Craft Distillery Advent Whisky Calendar, there must be a division of time building toward a climax.

Although the liturgical church year followed by mainline Christian churches, including Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, the United Church and the Orthodox, is cyclical, the season of Advent itself is resolutely linear.

A ‘taster’ of hope and transformation

It was only after its end-of-the-world emphasis that Advent became focused on the more socially acceptable and less eschatologically embarrassing Nativity stories. But the old themes stubbornly hold on in readings from Isaiah that reflect the hopes of ancient Israelites for a day when “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6).”

Here is another family resemblance between today’s Advent calendars and the ancient Mediterranean. Some companies hype their calendars as “teasers” or “tasters” for their full product lines.

In a similar way, Advent’s ultimate goal is to act as a “taster” for a world where justice is finally done, the poor can eat their fill and peace reigns supreme.

Matthew Robert Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The surprising theology inside today’s Advent calendars – https://theconversation.com/the-surprising-theology-inside-todays-advent-calendars-270761

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Zahinoor Ismail, Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

In the early 2000s, a major women’s health study — Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) — made headlines. As an ongoing study launched in the ‘90s, the WHI asked: could menopause hormone therapy (MHT), used to ease menopause symptoms, also protect against serious health problems in later life?

A smaller arm, the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS), focused on brain health in women without dementia.

When results were released in 2002, they were shocking. Women on MHT were more likely — not less — to develop heart disease, stroke, breast cancer and dementia. Doctors quickly advised against MHT, prescriptions plummeted, and for years, MHT nearly disappeared from the conversation.

But the story the findings told at the time was incomplete. The WHI findings weren’t wrong; they revealed real risks. But in the years since, researchers have re-examined the WHI data — not only the brain findings, but also the heart, stroke and cancer results — to better understand when, why and how MHT should be used. Today, experts agree that for many women who start MHT around menopause and don’t have medical reasons to avoid it, the benefits outweigh the risks, and MHT can be safely prescribed to manage menopause symptoms.

Still, several myths about MHT have persisted, including misperceptions about how it affects brain aging.

Let’s bust a few of the biggest myths about MHT and brain health.

Myth 1: MHT raises the risk of dementia for all women

According to WHIMS, women who started MHT at 65 years or older were more likely to develop dementia than those who did not. But most women start MHT much earlier, typically in their 40s or 50s around menopause.

And timing is important to MHT.

Researchers describe this as the critical window hypothesis: starting MHT around menopause may support brain health, while starting years later may increase risk of cognitive decline and dementia. WHIMS didn’t test this “window” — most participants were long past menopause and no longer had menopause symptoms. So the results don’t show the effects of MHT when used at the right age, for the right reasons (experiencing menopause symptoms).

Recent studies show a mixed picture: some women who start MHT near menopause may see brain benefits in later life, like better memory and fewer dementia-related changes. Others see little difference in cognition and dementia risk — but not worse outcomes.

However, starting MHT much later, such as in your 70s or even more than five years after menopause, may link to greater tau protein build-up, which is a marker of Alzheimer disease.

In short, MHT isn’t automatically bad for the brain, but its effects may depend on when it’s started and what kind is used.

Myth 2: All MHT affects the brain the same way

When people hear “MHT” (formerly known as hormone replacement therapy or HRT), they may picture one standard treatment. But MHT comes in many forms, and these differences may matter. In WHIMS, women took conjugated equine estrogen pills and medroxyprogesterone acetate if they had a uterus. This combination was once the standard treatment, but is now rarely used.

Today, 17-beta estradiol, (a type of estrogen), is more common and linked to brain benefits and lower risk of cognitive decline.

Those with a uterus also take progestogens to reduce uterine cancer risk. Progestogens may support brain health, but could also blunt estrogen’s protective effects, including its role in the growth, maintenance and function of brain cells that support memory and thinking. Clearly, both hormone type and combination matter.

Delivery methods of MHT — which are available as pills, patches, gels, creams, sprays or vaginal rings — also matters because each is processed differently.

Oral pills pass through the liver and can increase risk of blood clots and high blood pressure, which can affect brain health by slowing blood flow and increasing stroke risk.

Patches and gels, absorbed through the skin, can carry lower risks by avoiding the liver.

The bottom line is that not all MHTs are created equal. But even with the right form and timing, can MHT prevent dementia?

Myth 3: WHIMS showed that MHT can prevent dementia

Somewhere along the way, MHT was recast from a treatment for menopause symptoms into a supposed defence against dementia. This misconception traces back to WHIMS, which asked whether MHT could reduce dementia risk.

But risk reduction isn’t prevention. WHIMS did not test whether MHT prevents dementia, and because the study enrolled women long after menopause, the results don’t show what happens when MHT is used during the menopause transition. Even so, the findings were often taken to support broader claims about MHT and brain health, even though MHT was never designed to prevent dementia or serve as a stand-alone strategy for lowering dementia risk.

And not everyone needs or should take MHT. Some women breeze through menopause; others struggle. MHT isn’t one-size-fits-all.

But why do some women have symptoms and others don’t? New research suggests menopause symptoms themselves may offer clues about brain health, possibly reflecting the brain’s sensitivity to falling estrogen. Since estrogen supports memory, thinking and mood, more symptoms might signal greater vulnerability to brain aging.

And it’s not just the symptoms — it’s their impact on daily life. When night sweats interrupt sleep or mood changes strain relationships, stress and fatigue may further tax the brain.

In short, MHT isn’t a magic shield against dementia. But for those who struggle and can safely take MHT, managing menopause symptoms may support current well-being and future brain health.

The next chapter for MHT

WHIMS marked an important first chapter in the MHT story, but the science is still unfolding.

Researchers are now asking: when is the best time to start MHT? Which hormones matter most? Who benefits, and why?

Menopause is personal. For some, MHT brings relief and better quality of life. It’s not a guaranteed defence against dementia. But for the right person, at the right time, MHT may support healthy brain aging — an encouraging sign for the next generation entering midlife with more knowledge and support than ever before.

Want to be part of this evolving story? Consider joining Canadian studies like CAN-PROTECT or BAMBI, which explore how MHT and menopause experiences shape brain aging.

Zahinoor Ismail receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Gordie Howe CARES.

Jasper Crockford receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Alberta SPOR Support Unit, Canadian Federation of University Women, Vascular Training Platform, and Brain Health Care Canada.

Maryam Ghahremani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Busting brain myths: The evolving story of menopause hormone therapy and cognitive health – https://theconversation.com/busting-brain-myths-the-evolving-story-of-menopause-hormone-therapy-and-cognitive-health-266855

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Vivek Astvansh, Associate Professor of Quantitative Marketing and Analytics, McGill University

Each holiday season brings a predictable surge in consumer spending, but the way shoppers finance that spending is changing rapidly. While credit cards once dominated online checkouts, the growing popularity of buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrangements is changing how households manage short-term expenses.

BNPL refers to a short-term payment plan that retailers offer to shoppers at the point of purchase. The most common model is “pay-in-four” — rather than paying the full amount up front, the shopper pays 25 per cent immediately and the remaining 75 per cent over three equal instalments, typically debited automatically every two weeks.

This structure makes BNPL feel relatively frictionless and, for many shoppers, deceptively inexpensive.

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Read more:
The hidden risks of buy now, pay later: What shoppers need to know

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In 2024, BNPL accounted for five per cent of e-commerce transactions, a proportion expected to increase by 58 per cent by 2030. In comparison, credit cards accounted for 20 per cent of e-commerce transactions in 2024, and this share is projected to increase by only three per cent by 2030.

With half of consumers planning to rely on BNPL for their holiday purchases in 2025, understanding this shift has never been more timely.

As households prepare for another holiday season of spending, BNPL will appear across many checkout pages with promises of convenience and flexibility. But before clicking “pay later,” consumers should recognize that these loans carry real financial consequences.

Why is BNPL so attractive?

Two factors explain BNPL’s appeal. First, the time value of money suggests that funds available in the present are more valuable than the same amount in the future. By reducing the immediate out-of-pocket cost, it offers the impression of greater financial breathing room.

Many consumers also believe BNPL is always interest-free. While the pay-in-four model usually carries no interest, monthly payment plans usually do, sometimes as high as 35.99 per cent. The comparable highest annual percentage rate for credit cards is 26 per cent.

Second, BNPL loan provider companies such as Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay usually run only “soft” credit checks, which don’t affect a borrower’s credit score. This has led to a widespread assumption that BNPL primarily serves individuals with limited credit access.

But in practice, usage spans income levels. In Canada, for example, 40 per cent of BNPL users report high household incomes.

Such widespread use, however, is not without risks.

Why is BNPL risky?

Despite its user-friendly design, BNPL changes how people evaluate purchases. Its psychological effects can encourage overspending and contribute to longer-term financial strain.

BNPL can lead shoppers to prioritize immediate gratification over the delayed pain of payment, instilling what I call a “buy now, regret later” mentality.

Research has found that BNPL adoption increases shoppers’ purchase frequency and purchase amount. The effect is stronger for shoppers who are promotion-sensitive, young and low-income.

More worryingly, BNPL users incur higher overdraft charges, credit card interest and late fees than non-users. Shoppers are particularly vulnerable to overspending during the holiday season. While spending increases in holiday seasons, income does not, leading to debt accumulation.

5 points to keep in mind

Before choosing BNPL at checkout, shoppers should take a moment to consider what they’re agreeing to. The five points below can help consumers navigate these services more safely and avoid common pitfalls.

1. BNPL appears under other names. Not all instalment plans are described as BNPL, so make sure to read terms carefully to avoid being misled by marketing language.

2. BNPL can amount to a loan on top of a loan. When payments are drawn from a credit card, you are effectively borrowing twice and incurring a double risk. If an automatic debit fails, late payment fees can be substantial. Do not be misled when the checkout page states “you’ll never pay interest or late fees.”

3. Governments are increasingly asking BNPL companies to conduct hard credit checks and report defaulters to other financial institutions and governments. As a result, assurances that “your score won’t be affected” may no longer be reliable.

4. Consumer protection remains uneven. It’s unclear which government agency (if any) oversees BNPL complaints. Until regulations are fully developed and consistently enforced, your financial security is your responsibility.

5. BNPL expands the number of companies that handle your data. With credit cards, one financial institution manages the transaction. Under BNPL, consumers may shop at numerous retailers using different BNPL providers. Tracking which provider handled which purchase can be difficult and complicate disputes over unrecognized credit card charges.

3 questions to ask yourself before using BNPL

BNPL can be useful when employed thoughtfully, but it’s not suitable for every shopper or every purchase. Asking yourself the following questions can help you determine whether BNPL aligns with your financial habits and long-term goals.

1. Who is offering the loan? Review the BNPL provider’s frequently asked questions and payment policies. Compare firms such as Affirm, PayPal, Afterpay and Klarna. Obfuscated and unclear answers signal less transparency, and you should avoid using such companies.

2. Do you tend to buy products on impulse and lack financial self-control? If yes, be mindful of the risks of BNPL usage, as it may amplify that tendency.

3. Would strengthening your financial literacy improve your decision-making? If so, consider subscribing to reliable financial education resources before relying heavily on BNPL.

BNPL is a fintech innovation. Used responsibly, it can help shoppers maintain liquidity. However, used carelessly, it can make it easier for shoppers to accumulate debt. As the holiday season approaches, an informed approach will help you appreciate its benefits and avoid risks.

Vivek Astvansh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. ‘Buy now, pay later’ is everywhere this holiday season. Here’s how to avoid a debt hangover – https://theconversation.com/buy-now-pay-later-is-everywhere-this-holiday-season-heres-how-to-avoid-a-debt-hangover-271286

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jean-Sébastien Blouin, Professor, School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia

Imagine driving a car with a steering that doesn’t respond instantly and a GPS that always reflects where you were a second ago. To stay on course, you must constantly infer how to steer the wheel from outdated information.

Our brains do exactly that every time we move: sensory signals reach the brain tens of milliseconds after an event and motor commands take similar time to travel to the muscles, which then need extra time to generate force. In other words, the brain is always working with “old news” and must predict the future outcome of every action.

This predictive ability is most impressive when we stand upright because it requires keeping a tall, top‑heavy body balanced on two small feet.

Balance challenges

Scientists have long known that neural delays make balance hard to control. Even in healthy young adults, it takes about one-sixth of a second for information from the feet, muscles and inner ears to reach the brain and for a corrective signal to return to the muscles. Simple physics models treat the body as a mass balanced around the ankles and predict that if the delay is too long, standing becomes impossible.

The physical properties of our bodies similarly shape how we move. Just as a large van steers more sluggishly than a compact car, a large person standing upright resists motion and feels sudden pushes or bumps less sharply.

To test whether the brain treats delayed signals similar to changes in body mechanics, a team at the University of British Columbia and the Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands built a life‑size “body‑swap” robot.

Participants stand on two force‑sensing footplates and are secured to a padded frame. Motors move the frame in response to the forces they generate, making the whole system behave like their real body swaying under gravity.

Crucially, the robot can alter the simulated body mechanics on the fly: it can make you feel lighter or heavier, add or remove energy from your motion, or insert a delay between your forces and the motion you feel — mimicking the brain’s own sensory‑motor lag.

Three experiments

With this tool, researchers asked whether the brain treats time (delay) and space (body dynamics) independently, under three experiments:

1. Changing body dynamics and delays alter balance similarly: Participants stood while the robot inserted a 0.2‑second lag between their commands and resulting motion. That pause — a blink of an eye — caused larger sway and pushed many participants to a virtual “fall” boundary. Similarly, sway increased when the robot made the body feel lighter or added energy to the motion, much like a gust of wind pushes you forward.

2. Delays feel like altered body mechanics: With the delay turned off, participants adjusted their bodies’ mechanical properties until their sensation matched the delayed condition they had just experienced. They chose a lighter body or a setting that added energy. When they were asked to make the delayed condition feel “natural,” participants selected a heavier body or a setting that dissipated energy from the motion. Hence, tweaking the body’s mechanical properties can recreate or cancel the feeling of delayed information.

3. Improving balance under delay: Volunteers who never experienced the robot stood on it with the 0.2‑second delay present, combined with a heavier body or one that dissipated energy from the motion. Their balance improved instantly: sway dropped by up to 80 per cent and most participants no longer reached the virtual fall boundary.

Blending time and space

Taken together, the three experiments support one conclusion: the brain does not store separate solutions for “late information” and an “unstable body.”
Instead, it maintains a unified internal model that blends time and space into one representation of movement.

When sensory feedback is outdated and the body feels unstable, adding heaviness and dissipating energy from the motion restores balance. Conversely, making the body lighter or adding energy reproduces the instability caused by delays. In either case, a unified representation of balance is used to keep you upright.

These findings are more than a laboratory curiosity. As we age or when diseases damage long nerves, signals travel slower and are more disrupted, leading to balance deficits and a higher risk of falls. According to the World Health Organization, about one in three older adults falls each year, and falls are the leading cause of injury‑related hospital stays, costing health systems billions of dollars.

The body‑swap robot offers a new perspective to this problem: assistive devices and wearable exoskeletons that supply just enough “helpful resistance” the moment a person begins to sway can counteract the destabilizing effects of neural delays.

They also raise a broader question: have the body sizes of animals and the mechanics that compensate for neural delays evolved to enhance their survival?

The next time you lean over a sink or chat in a doorway, remember that your brain is quietly juggling time‑and‑body representations in the background. The fact that you never notice this balancing act may be the most astonishing finding of all.

Jean-Sébastien Blouin receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Patrick A. Forbes receives funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

– ref. Novel ‘body-swap’ robot provides insights into how the brain keeps us upright – https://theconversation.com/novel-body-swap-robot-provides-insights-into-how-the-brain-keeps-us-upright-270846